Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary science of biology, physical sciences, engineering and medicine. The three key components of tissue engineering products (or engineered tissue products) are the extracellular matrix, the cells and the regulatory signals (tissue specific induction factor and/or growth factors). I order to effectively evaluate these components in a systematic way, the investigators propose to provide the tissue engineering community with a series of type I collagen matrix reference materials for engineering research. In phase I, a series of type I collagen matrix reference materials will be designed and developed. They include porous, tubular, membrane, filament, and fibrillar matrices of defined characteristics and properties that are suitable for a variety of tissue and organ repair and regeneration tissue engineering product research and development. In phase II, these matrices will be fabricated and tested in vitro with various types of cells that are pertinent for particular tissue regeneration applications. The state-of-the-art of repair of damaged tissue or organ is by tissue engineering products, which can be used either to replace or correct poorly functional components in humans or to introduce better functional components into these living systems. The introduction of tissue matrix reference materials will greatly facilitate the tissue engineering product development. The investigators anticipate a wide range of applications of the tissue matrix reference materials in tissue engineering product research and development. Thus, the commercial value of the reference materials is clearly identified. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: NOT AVAILABLE